Termination of an employment contract on the basis of notice of termination, in view of the employee’s failure to collect the notice, is not a completely clear-cut situation from the perspective of its effectiveness. Successive versions of the Anti-Crisis Shield modified the principles of the presumption that had been used so far, i.e. the fiction of delivering a letter after it has been noticed twice. To this day, there is still a dispute among commentators on the provisions of the aforementioned legislation in connection with their application to mail which is not sent by a court, bailiff, law enforcement authority or tax inspection body.
On the other hand, there is a solution for the effective on-line termination of a contract of employment – by means of a qualified electronic signature.
In accordance with the Article 78 [1] of the Civil Code, a qualified electronic signature has been equalized with a traditional signature. This means that we can use this type of signature for all kinds of documents – even those created on the basis of labour law.
Sending a scan of the termination of an employment contract, by means of e-mail correspondence, has no legal effect. However, if such notice of termination is accompanied by a qualified electronic signature, the contract is effectively terminated.
In view of the above, the possible suspension of the fiction of delivery in connection with COVID-19 is of no importance to the employer and the employment contract with an employee who avoids coming to the office to receive notice may be effectively terminated.
Read the post from a few months ago where we have comprehensively explained the issue of termination of the employment contract by email!
Author: Oliwia Kruczyńska, Junior Associate at Kolecka & Partners Law Firm LLP
This article deals with the issue of termination of an employment contract by means of a qualified signature, however, by means of such a certificate it is also possible to terminate other contracts, i.e. e.g. a contract of mandate or a contract for work.
It cannot be confused with the ePuap signature, which is only an official signature without a qualified certificate. Therefore, an agreement bearing the ePuap signature has no legal effect.
